The Job System confusion?

[Zaul]

Hey Everyone

Am I correct in assuming that with the job system in FF11 you can mix any 2 jobs, say Summoner/Ninja, Palladin/Dark Knight ect.
Or are there only certain jobs you can have as secondary depending on what your first are.
It just seems to me wierd that there could be a White Mage and a Palladin character, meaning they are basically.. well invincible?

[Mog]

Re: The Job System confusion?

PLD/WHM is anything but invincible. Subbing whm means {Death} for said paladin.

You will want to sub something that complements the main job you're fighting with. If your main job is Dark Knight, sub warrior. If your Main job is Black mage, sub either red mage or white mage.

[Zaul]

Re: The Job System confusion?

So Any Job can have any sub job?

[Mog]

Re: The Job System confusion?

So Any Job can have any sub job?

Right. However, you will want to sub the "accepted jobs" so that you will be invited into experience parties. For example, if there are 2 ninja seeking, one subbing bard and the other subbing war, the /war has a 99.9999999% chance of getting invited compared to the other guy.

[Zamphire]

Re: The Job System confusion?

Yes, any job can have any job as a sub job, but alot of sub job combinations don't work at all, and alot of sub job combinations work better than others. The game community has more or less decided for you what jobs you should sub.

[Omniblast]

Re: The Job System confusion?

Most jobs will allow you to sub whatever and whichever job you would like. But as previous posters said, you will be "Forced" to use a job that is better suited than your perferred job.

Your example of Summoner/Ninja would yield very little benefit to being a Summoner. I'm just going to point out that Elemental Staffs do carry a -perpetuation for keeping that type of avatar out. Thusly so, it would drain your mp less if you had the correct staff out, and you cannot dual wield two staffs. I doubt you would get away with that in any circumstance, and that for most of your career summoner life, you would sub /whm (white mage) for curing and status removal.

Now you may ask what is the best race for Summoner, it's really up to you, however you will need better Equipment if you wanted to be a Galka Summoner vs. a Tarutaru summoner.

Some of the main jobs with subs that I have seen are:

WAR/NIN OR MNK
PLD/WAR OR NIN
WHM/BLM OR SMN
BLM/WHM OR RDM
SMN/WHM OR RDM
RDM/BLM OR DRK OR NIN OR THF
NIN/WAR
DRK/WAR OR THF
MNK/WAR OR THF
THF/NIN OR WAR
RNG/NIN OR WAR
DRG/WAR OR THF
BRD/WHM
BST/WHM OR NIN
BLU/NIN OR RNG
COR/RNG OR NIN
PUP/??? <- unfamiliar with this job

It just mainly depends on the purpose that you want to achieve so that you can pick the better combination.

I went with 3 SMN party and 1 RDM and 1 of the SMN was using /BRD. I kept Fenrir out for free and he just roamed with us whenever we went to kill stuff.
Sanction (Refresh), YinYang Robe, SMN Job Trait, Refresh, and Ballad. FTW.

[Zamphire]

Re: The Job System confusion?

Where'd the whole SMN thing come from?

[neighbortaru]

Re: The Job System confusion?

or to put it in another perspective, you know how in WoW or Guild Wars there are good builds and bad builds? well, SMN/nin would be a horrid build

but yes, there is nothing in the game to prevent you from using a bad build (except public ridicule by your peers).

[Omniblast]

Re: The Job System confusion?

The original poster Zaul mentioned Summoner/Ninja.

I think if I leveled up Dagger, I could make a good SMN/NIN Build, I mean after all, they do get Energy Drain or Energy Steal, Whatever it's called.

[neighbortaru]

Re: The Job System confusion?

i'll take your word for it omnib

[Aeni]

Re: The Job System confusion?

Hey Everyone

Am I correct in assuming that with the job system in FF11 you can mix any 2 jobs, say Summoner/Ninja, Palladin/Dark Knight ect.
Or are there only certain jobs you can have as secondary depending on what your first are.
It just seems to me wierd that there could be a White Mage and a Palladin character, meaning they are basically.. well invincible?

I don't know if you're familiar with the whole "hybrid" concept (I know several MMORPG developers have gone on public to say they loathe the whole hybrid concept) but that is what FFXI class system is all about.

Now, while the brochures make it sound like it's the next best thing to fruites de mare salad on toasted ciabatta, the ability to sub a job choice is anything but freedom. You're always instructed, from the time you actually complete the quest, on "cookie-cutter" combinations from peers, magazines, forums and party members.

Basically it boils down to optimization that will fit the efficiency of party mechanics. As for soloing, who the hell cares, since there's abilities and spells that can benefit self more than the party and thus you're allowed greater freedom to sub varying job choices.

The advantage to the hybrid system is to allow certain strengths to be applied to any given situation or circumstances. You're not "locked in" on a supposed "bad choice" of a main as long as you have the right sub to make up for it (Think CoP's penchant for requiring out-of-the-box job combination and party makeup)

Not to mention the benefit of not having to have yet another character to "grind" through with any fame/skill/craft lost in the process just to experience another class.

The drawback, however, is that class distinction starts to blur and get boiled down to the point where in a few instances, you can have issues arise where a class with a supposed role can get that role taken away from them (Unintentionally of course) due to another job combination being either superior or offering the same benefits with even better utility.

Not to mention when you have way too many job classes, the game becomes more of a novelty than anything to take serious about (As well as not being able to raise level cap for future expansion and thus satisfying the end game crowd because you're going to have to face some very serious problems with game balance/class balance issues)

I'm kind of partial to the whole class system, but overall, this is what makes FFXI unique and unique is a good thing as you want a reason or two for players to play this game over the others.

[Macht]

Re: The Job System confusion?

Well some combinations though are great for specific operations. SMN/NIN may be horrid for some situations but can excel in others, the main benefit SMN/NIN gets is the use of Utsusemi.

Now at lv. 75 SMN/NIN and Utsusemi + Summon makes for a player that is very hard to touch. Not only does the mob have to get through the Summon but also the Utsusemi. The negative cost to this is you lose extra MP you could of gotten by having another Mage class as sub, and if it was WHM or RDM you loose their Cures (But if you aren't being touched how dire is the need of Cure anyway).

In effect SMN/NIN probably works decently for a Manaburn type party to negate or shave off some AoE type attacks that may get the SMNs.

To add though, the forced choices that many peers, forum members, etc.. as I'm seeing are often incomplete and way to strict. So strict that even a combination that may have another equal, the equal is overshadowed and rejected simply because of peers and other BS behavior.